We are making progress in reserving scenic trains for our July trip, thanks in part to help in this forum.

We went through this site to HappyRail.com and were able to book our Swiss Travel Passes and reservations for the Gotthard and Glacier Express routes.

We now have the Bernina Express (from Lugano to Pontresina, where we've booked accomodations) and the Golden Pass (we're actually travelling from Lausanne to Wengen).

I have asked HappyRail about these last two, but the answers and related webiste pages are a bit confusing. I've sent follow-up emails back to them to clarify, but wanted to ask this here:

If we have Swiss Travel Passes, can we make train reservations via SBB or some other company, or do we have to go through HappyRail?

Also, we are travelling from Zermatt to Lausanne in July. Should we reserve 1st class spots on whatever train(s) are available (if so, how?!?) or should we be able to just jump on a particular set and go?

Thanks for all the help this site provides. It's proving invaluable for our vacation.

It looks like for the Golden Pass, even though we're going from Lausanne to the Berner Oberland via Interlaken Ost in July, we only need to reserve the Montreux to Zweisimmen leg, as you say.

The problem is that with HappyRail, we have to enter the start/end point and times (see attached), where our previous experience with them was that they allowed us to select the time. I assume we just look at SBB and figure out the correct Montreux-Zweisimmen times...?

I wasn't sure if another website would be a little easier to use to reserve this leg.

Regarding hopping on, we weren't sure if that was still OK during the busy season of July when we're going (albeit we've got 1st class Swiss Travel Passes).

>> The problem is that with HappyRail, we have to enter the start/end point and times (see attached), where our previous experience with them was that they allowed us to select the time. I assume we just look at sbb.ch and figure out the correct Montreux-Zweisimmen times...? I wasn't sure if another website would be a little easier to use to reserve this leg ... we're going from Lausanne to the Berner Oberland via Interlaken Ost

The most straightforward way to make reservations for the Golden Pass route is on their official website:

You can make reservations up to 90 days in advance of your travel date.

As you are starting out from Lausanne, I would first do a timetable search in the Swiss Timetable to find the connections that suit you best (for your full trip from Lausanne to wherever you are headed). Make sure to include via Montreux and via Zweisimmen in your search to avoid connections via Bern (which is not the Golden Pass route).

If you want to try getting the VIP seats between Montreux and Zweisimmen, you will need to select connections that include the 9:44 or 15:44 departure from Montreux to Zweisimmen. Only those departures from Montreux include the carriage with VIP seats. For the 9:44 departure on 13 July 2018, there are only 2 VIP seats left in the front row, and they are not together. All VIP seats in the second row are still available though. All front row VIP seats are still available for the 15:44 departure.

(Use the Advanced timetable - all public transport, all routes timetable)

Having found your preferred connections, note the departure time from Montreux, and use the Golden Pass reservations website to reserve the Montreux-Zweisimmen sector. Reservations for the normal seats cost CHF 8, and for the VIP seats, CHF 15.

In July, reservations on the Bernina Express will cost you CHF 14 per person per leg.

You may not always get four seats together on regional trains in July, but most regional trains cannot be reserved in any case. As people get off, you might be able to rearrange yourselves to sit together.

Trains on which reservations are possible are nearly always InterCity or EuroCity trains, and are denoted with the letter R in the Swiss Timetable. See attached screenshot: I have circled the R, which denotes that seats can be reserved on this train.